World | Philippines
Airport denies Filipinos stranded in Pampanga
An official of a major airport in Pampanga, northern Philippines, denied reports that thousands of Filipinos have been stranded due to lack of flights from the Middle East and other Asian destinations.
- By Gilbert Felongco, Correspondent
- Published: 00:08 May 22, 2008
Manila: An official of a major airport in Pampanga, northern Philippines, denied reports that thousands of Filipinos have been stranded due to lack of flights from the Middle East and other Asian destinations.
"There is no truth to reports that thousands of Filipino workers are stranded at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) due to the lack of flights to Asian destinations," Arnel San Pedro of the Clark International Airport Authority (CIAA) told Gulf News in a telephone interview from Pampanga in northern Philippines.
The CIAA provides airport services to the DMIA.
The DMIA mainly services Filipino and other international passengers in Pampanga province and nearby northern Philippines areas.
Compared to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) which provides passage to tens of thousands of international passengers every day, the DMIA services just an average of 47,000 passengers every month.
San Pedro said the reports on stranded passengers may have something to do with a recent call by a group of businessmen to allow more flights from the DMIA due to a supposed lack of flights.
Recently, Representative Carmelo Lazatin of the first congressional district of Pampanga was quoted by reports as saying that "very limited international flights at Clark are holding thousands of vacationing overseas workers, mostly from the Middle East, from returning to their places of employment due to 'acute lack' of flight."
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